Close calls with ferrets... I have been owned by ferrets for 20 years and have had a number of close calls. My very first ferret, Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy, went through a small hole in a window screen. I didn't realize this had happened. When I opened the front door to see if my cat wanted in, there was my neighbor's dog shaking my ferret!! Amazingly, I rescued Mr. Fuzzy Wuzzy in time and he was ok (ferret guardian angel at work!!). Another time I had Roxanne in my "completely fenced-in" backyard. Wrong -- she of course found a hole in the fence and took off. By the time I ran around the block to the yard behind mine, Roxanne had already met three different neighbors who were out raking leaves. Fortunately, one of them knew I had ferrets and was holding Roxanne. And then there was the time Prince Charming spent more than a day inside the wall of someone else's house after finding a hole in the wall. [Hey, he was a quite a jumper! BIG] Another time I was taking care of Gus, who managed to disappear. Fortunately, his person (Bill Wmson -- are you reading this??) had Gus trained to come to a squeaky toy. So when I noticed Gus was missing, I started squeaking the toy and I heard a scratching from the other side of the basement door(!) Gus had found a missing tile at the base of the bathroom wall and ended up in the basement -- thank goodness for squeaky toys!! I used to keep a couple of small coated-wire cages open in my ferret room so ferrets could climb in and out, and whenever I needed to separate anyone for short periods of time (my ferrets have free range of 2 rooms). One day I heard a ferret screaming and found one of my tiny females with her foot caught in the top of the open cage! Thank goodness I was home! No more cages in the ferret rooms (I keep a number of open carriers for ferrets eating special foods, and also in case of emergency). And most recently, the Great Splendini (my current escape artist) found a hole in a screen behind a window I "never" leave open! He was out on the kitchen roof having a great time till I climbed out the window and caught him. What I have learned...if ferret guardian angels turn their back for even a second, a ferret is bound to get into trouble!! And...ferret proofing is an ongoing process, and every ferret is different -- a new ferret will ALWAYS find something that no other ferret has ever found. Training a ferret to come to a squeaky toy can be lifesaving! Each of these incidents took a few years off my life(!!) and I consider myself and my ferrets very lucky. Ronnie DiComo [Posted in FML 6097]